StrawberryFrog: (aka Laura) designer of Lady Lallybroch cuff wristlet fingerless knits, also the Blood Vow scarf – Gaberlunzies inspired by the Outlander TV series. There is a sale on her wonderful Outlander patterns through the end of the month!

Goldybear’s > Selbu-Baaa-Ter
Knitstersusan’s Aidez
susanvknits’ Put a Bird on it Cardi
And check out our forum page on Ravelry for other fabulous projects!

And a shameless plug for our own pinkblanket’s project bags now available for sale at JPK&S as Third Floor Studio :-)

Off The Needles
Kris finally had some finished objects — Samadhi, the second pattern from the Martina Behm Strickmich! club, and Tre Colori, a free pattern from Loop, in the wonderful Hikoo Cobasi yarn — great to work with and fabulous drape.

Susan and Kris had a fun time learning to arm knit at JPK&S with Dylan Usher (of Dylaniaum Knits) as part of ArtWeek Boston.

Sally: Campside, Bike Seat Cover, Lion Brand Pattern

On The Needles
Sal: Another Bike seat cover.

Kris is back in full knitting mode (something to do with the change in seasons perhaps?) and is juggling four projects. She recently found her half-finished Ellipses in a project bag and started that up again, jumped on Erica Flory’s new Portfolio pattern using stash yarn from the frogged Netty Cowl , started the third pattern from the Stichmich! club, Jasminde (this will be slow-going), and decided that the Shibui sale yarn from Gather Here would be perfect for a Greta scarf from Quince & Company’s scarves book from last year.

In The Queue
Sal: Sally fell for Knitworthy, hook, line and sinker! Fun new giftable patterns from Ysolda Teague

Kris also fell for Knitworthy and like Sal is intrigued by the trummed slippers (roving from Hilltop Handspun perhaps?). She also admired three (!) samples made from Dirty Water Dyeworks yarn: Miss Doolittle in Mavis, Picabeau in Paula, and Ione in Crystal. A couple of other possibilities — a Campside inspired by both Sal and Susan’s beautiful versions, a Barn Sweater by Carrie Bostick Hoge (from Taproot), and a great-looking cardigan from a new book by Cirillia Rose being published soon.

Kris enjoyed the latest Donna Leon mystery, read Let Me Finish for book club, and is looking forward to reading Ann Hood’s The Knitting Circle and Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting after meeting her at JPK&S.

We’re back! We were so glad to be together and we had so much to share. Here are the important links:

Shout Outs:
These are some highlights culled from our forum page. We love seeing this stuff! Thanks for sharing. Smithmks’ Korknisse are adorable and charming and make me want to knit one (or 15?) too, and her Gemini is beautiful and flattering. Check out Scitchr’s Flyspeck Fox and VictoriaBlue’s Zebra toy and all the other amazing projects.

On The Needles:
Sally has a goal to get back to work on Mark’s Vest so she can go to Rhinebeck with a clear conscience. In the meantime she has been totally distracted by Alicia Plummer’s Campside. We’ve started a KAL on our discussion pages. Please join in.

Kris is working on a Tre Colori shawl using Hikoo’s CoBaSi (cotton/bamboo/silk) – a lovely yarn with a great drape.

Tre Colori – natural/gray/black

Susan is working the Birdie Fair Isle Cardigan in Berroco Ultra Alpaca as a shop sample. Also on her needles, another Salt Water in Louet Euroflax Linen , and still plugging away on Annis in Madelinetosh prairie , in the mica colorway.

On a recent trip to Portland, ME, Kris bought three skeins of Quince’s Piper in the Abilene colorway. She also picked up some Shibui Merino Alpaca in Blush (a very Susan color!) at the Gather Here sale and is using it for the Greta Shawl.

Also off the needles: 2 summer tops- Gemini and Urban in Shibui Linen (a favorite yarn) in the Suit colorway.

Kris finished her Zephyr Cove — a very large shawl with a bit of everything — and a Mashpee Shawlette out of MadTosh Dandelion — a very sweet little shawl with some unclear instructions in the pattern. Susan started a Mashpee, but had a little trouble with the edging and gave up……. (More news on that — Tian issued an update to the pattern yesterday which fixes the confusion at the beginning of the pattern.)

On the Needles:

Susan still has Nangou on the needles- a retooled version with stripes in 2 colors of grey of Classic Elite Firefly. Also, 2nd sock of It’s a Guy Thing, lovely pattern. Also, just barely started is Annis- terrible choice of cast on -knitted cast on. Soon to be ripped out. Very soon- uggh!

Kris is still working on her Samedhi — another lovely little shawlette. The welthase merino light is just wonderful to knit with.

see what I mean? Uggh!

Stash:

Susan was unable to resist some road trip stash enhancement:

A skein of Meadow in the Larkspur colorway, a skein of Madtosh Prairie in the Begonia Leaf colorway, and a skein of Malabrigo sock in the Impressionist Sky colorway- so pretty!

Susan always likes what Kris finds to queue, so she also queued Brickless and Samadhi. Also in her Queue, Pebble Beach Shawlette by Helen Stewart, Vitamarie by Franklin Habit, and a cardigan- Sandshore by Alicia Plummer.

Kris has been racing through a stack of mysteries — the last two Flavia de Luce books (big doings in the most recent one), Martha Grimes’ Vertigo 42 (which it turns out is a real bar in London at the top of Tower 42), Ann Cleeves’ Dead Water, and M.C. Beaton’s Death of a Policeman.

Events:

Kris and Susan thoroughly enjoyed Franklin Habit’s “Impractical Knitting” talk at the most recent Common Cod Fiber Guild meeting made us laugh out loud – a lot!

Another upcoming event is the Fiber Revival in Newbury Ma on Saturday August 9. We had such a good time last year!

Sally is slowly, slowly slowly working on her Color Affection. She pledges to finish it by May 15. but don’t hold your breath.

In Our Queues:

Susan is itching to begin casting on some new projects! Like Vera Valimaki’s Urban , or Whispers- 2 short-sleeved , fingering weight pullovers for spring layering. As for shawls, Kinta is a lovely triangle eyelet shawl, and Kalimna . The Spring Infinity Lace Scarf is a lovely accessory for spring and summer!

Kris received the second pattern from the Strickmich! Club — a lovely little kerchief called Samadhi knit with welthase fingering merino light in the “Blue Blessing” colorway.

She is also admiring Carrie Bostick Hoge’s Lola Shawl — the pattern was just published in the latest issue of Taproot magazine — and happens to have some Quince & Co Finch in her stash!

Kris got halfway through The Goldfinch but is taking a little break — beautifully written but very intense.

Sally read They Danced By The Light Of The Moon by Tempa Pagel. Set in Newburyport, MA, this Mystery laced with history and historical architecture is a fun read, especially if you’ve been to the area.

This episode could also be known as Ladies Of The Snit-we heard there is a podcast with that name-brilliant! . It is March. It is very cold. There is still snow on the ground. The end is not really in sight, although the days are nice and long. This fellow is in Sally’s neighborhood. He is really making her grumpy. It’s really time for this guy to have some well deserved time off.

Give this guy a vacation already!

Shout-outs:

Check out our Ravelry forum page for shared projects. Here are a few of the latest that have caught our fancy.

Kris: Finished her Knit Your Love shawl for Ravellenics. It’s adorable and tiny. Kris has had a decades long battle with devious gauge. She swears she will knit a gauge swatch next time. Stay tuned.

Susan: Finished her Sugar Is Sweet by Rose Beck shawlette out of some yummy Madtosh Pashmina in foxglove. It is beautiful and wearable.

On The Needles:

Kris: is working on the Lonely Tree Shawl by Sylvia Bobilvia out of some beautiful red/pink/ Manos Wool Classica

Susan : Is knitting some great socks for her husband. It’s a guy thing, a really spiffy pattern by Caroline Egwar, who works at J.P Knit & Stitch out of some manly Malabrigo Sock in the Persia colorway.

One sock done!

Sally :Is slogging away on her Color Affection. She became disenchanted with the Olympics and abandoned them in favor of actual x-country skiing and reading. Lots of batches of brownies have been baked as well.

Off our needles:These have been off the needles for a while, but they are worth sharing, and the notes need some color. these are the Borough Mitts made from kool-aid dyed yarn. Sally gave them to her daughter for Christmas.

On our needles:

Kris cast on for a Ravellenics project — the first Strickmich! Club project, Knit Your Love. It’s an asymmetrical triangular shawlette with small hearts along one edge and is knit with DyeForYarn’s merino/silk fingering yarn. When the Olympics are over, she’ll return to Zuzu’s Petals, the Lonely Tree Shawl, and Basalt!

Sally is working away on a vest for her husband out of the nostalgia inducing Bartletts Yarn she scored at Rhinebeck. She has also cast on for an Olympics project — she is finally knitting her Color Affection with Miss Babs’ Into The Whirled as one of the colors.

In our stash:

Despite her best intentions, Kris did add to her stash with a skein of Mad Tosh Pashimina in the “Weathered” colorway from Loop and a skein of Mad Tosh Sock in “Seasalt” from the Stitch House. The Pashimina is tentatively scheduled to be an Amarillo shawl but that may change.

In the queue:

Kris has her eye on Gramps or Gramps for her new great-nephew and also likes Kelpie from the new BT Winter 14 collection, Carrie Bostick Hoge’s Louise cardigan, and Thea Colman’s Tonic Water which she saw “in person” at the Slater Mill’s knitting weekend opening reception.

Sally has been eyeing the Owl In A Tea Cup by Joyce Rose, the adorable Troll hats by Gabriela Widmer-Hanke and Colorimetry by Kathryn Schoendorf. She also loved the sweaters and dresses that Ellen Mason showed at The Slater Mill. She is particularly smitten by Maggie Magnifico, a vintage-ish cardigan that could easily become a wardrobe staple. Ellen hopes to release the pattern in May. Stay tuned.

Sally read Life after Life by Kate Atkinson. Such a wonderful book set in England during WWII. she didn’t even mind that Jackson Brodie didn’t get to make an appearance. She also listened to A Body On The Beach and Death In The Downs by Simon Brett. These are really easy listening, fun and clever mysteries.